ZAGREB, Oct 28, 2020  - Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic has made a decision to introduce free parking around health institutions in the city.

"The coronavirus epidemic has entered a dramatic stage, with the health system being under extreme strain, so with this decision I want to make the situation at least a bit easier for citizens who seek medical assistance," Bandic said in a Facebook post on Tuesday evening, calling on other towns to do the same.

The decision will be in force until the epidemiological situation normalizes.

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ZAGREB, Oct 28, 2020  - In the last 24 hours 2,378 new coronavirus cases have been registered in Croatia and 23 persons have died, the highest daily number of fatalities since the start of the epidemic, the national COVID-19 response team said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a record 18 coronavirus-related deaths were reported.

The number of active cases is 12,736, including 932 hospitalized patients, of whom 68 are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the new virus was first registered in Croatia, 40,999 persons have been infected, of whom 493 have died and 27,770 have recovered, including 930 in the past 24 hours.

Currently, 14,924 persons are self-isolating.

To date, 466,315 persons have been tested, including 8,589 in the past 24 hours.

October 29, 2020 - Leading Croatian lawyer Vanja Juric is interviewed on N1 on the subject of hate speech in society.

Vanja Juric, a lawyer who often deals with court cases involving hate speech, explained to N1 the causes of this phenomenon in Croatia, the consequences for society, as well as how society can resist this phenomenon.

Juric said that hate speech as a phenomenon is not the basis of radicalization in society.

"I think a lot more care has to be taken that hate speech is a consequence, not a cause. It is a consequence of the general social climate, frustrations that have accumulated over the years, probably also poverty, insufficient education, etc.," she said.

Should hate speech be regulated by law?

"Of course it should. Should we insist that the regulation improves if it's possible? Of course it should. But we need to start from a starting point, from the fact that it is a consequence of the social climate that has been going on for a long time, I would say, and now it is further intensified by the crisis and pandemic, and in parallel, we should discuss laws. Laws and additional legal regulation cannot and must not be the only means in this struggle," said Vanja Juric.

Given her experience in hate speech trials in the courts, the Newsroom presenter was interested in how difficult it is to prove hate speech in court.

"Hate speech is regulated in different forms in different laws. When we talk about hate speech in criminal law, it can be underlined as a crime of incitement to violence and hatred.

In my experience, according to some of the cases I have been involved in, this is extremely difficult at the moment, because to prove that something constitutes a call to violence and hatred, the direct intent of the perpetrator must be proven. In the case of which I have direct knowledge, it was a very severe hate speech directed at a journalist, the State Attorney's Office did not initiate proceedings because it found that such speech, although it had elements of hate speech, in that particular case was not intentional, rather it was brought out in affect, under the influence of alcohol, the perpetrator had no intention,” she illustrated with an example from practice.

"Freedom of the media and expression is protected by the Constitution. Hate speech is not covered by freedom of expression, and no Croatian or international act would take it under freedom of speech," she said.

She added:

"Hate speech can have expressive consequences for freedom of expression."

To what extent is politics responsible for radicalization in terms of the level of public discourse?

"I would say that politics is very responsible, without any dilemma. For at least 10 years we have been encouraging divisions in society from the political level and for political reasons, and when situations like lately happen, then we wonder where hate speech comes from, where radicalization in society," Juric said.

She pointed out that politicians are the ones who should show by example what the level of productive communication is:

"Thereby they would accomplish a lot more than with the laws."

She said that the only right way for civic education is, first and foremost, to sensitize young people:

"As I said that hate speech is not a cause but a consequence, so it is a question of education how we will teach children inclusion, tolerance, and all issues that are important for productive and useful public communication. People should be encouraged to participate in discussions on all important public topics, but one has to know how to do it and I think education is a very correct answer, in addition to all the other means that have to be used."

October 30, 2020 - A decade is a long time in online writing, especially when life in Croatia is the topic. Some reflections of a foreign blogger writing about life in Croatia over the last ten years. 

I remember it as though it was yesterday, even though the spinning wheel of time tells me it was ten years ago this week. 

A chill in the dark late winter air on the main square in Jelsa, I the only person outside, the numerous locals huddled in their coats in the warmth of the cafe interiors. 

I had just written my first ever article online - Driving in Albania - Not for the Fainthearted - for a now-defunct website in Canada called Suite 101, and I was anxiously waiting for my new editor to approve my piece so that I could start yet one more career in my random passage through life. Male chambermaid, bellboy, laser crystals salesman, humanitarian aid worker, wine merchant, French and English teacher, real estate agent. And now the latest metamorphosis - online writer. 

(TCN, the early years - Photo Vedran Segvic)

Within 30 minutes, the message came through. The article was not only approved but commended. More importantly, it was live on the Internet, and I was now free to publish my subsequent texts directly, without any editorial checking. My heart missed a beat when I saw the article there, live and available for all to read - and for all to comment. 

The website had some excellent backend tools, including real-time reporting, so that you could see how many people were reading your stuff at any one time, and where the traffic was coming from. 

It was the start of a new addiction that all bloggers suffer from to a larger or smaller degree. - statistics. 

Four people were reading the article. Then 6. Now 9. All at the same time. And then my heart skipped a beat. It seemed that a Vancouver news portal was linking to my article from the data in the tracking. I went to the Vancouver portal and sure enough, there it was. In a story about a bomb in Greece, there was a box with Related News. I guess that Greek news stories are quite thin on the ground in Vancouver in October, and so my Albania driving article got my first ever online placement. 

I was hooked.  

I wrote a second, and then a third article, both about Hvar, and I watched them go live, get read, liked and shared. One of the articles had an incredible 11 Facebook likes within an hour of my publishing on a Dalmatian island in a cafe with a beer. 

The more I researched, the more I realised that there was actually very little information about Croatia in English, apart from football, how gorgeous its beaches were, and occasionally about politics. About Hvar, there was almost nothing - crazy when you look at how many column inches it gets today. I started writing 3, 4, 5 articles a day, all about Croatia and particularly Hvar. As my Canadian site was a Google News partner, and given the lack of competing material, it didn't take long for the Croatian media to start quoting this authoritative Canadian news portal. When in fact it was a fat Brit with a cold one sitting in a cafe in Jelsa. 

When Google introduced its deadly Panda algorithm update, our site lost 94% of its traffic overnight, and I went from being regularly quoted in the Croatian media to unfindable on Google. I had learned a lot, but was it enough for me to start on my own?

By this time, I was becoming something of a Hvar expert, having written the first modern guidebook for the island, and when my wife suggested I follow it with a website, given that the five island tourist boards did not communicate with each other or do any joint promotion, the idea of Total Hvar - the origin of TCN - was born. 

Life was good. 

I was living on the most beautiful island in the world, working from a cafe (I suppose I was an early digital nomad), and my job was to write happy stories of discovery about my adopted island. Locals loved me, as did the island tourist businesses, as they were getting some excellent promotion of the island, as well as many of the islanders learning things about their own island that they didn't even know. 

As a bubble of life in Croatia, it was perfection. Happy stories - and fascinating, untold, happy stories - about an elite tourist destination, and endless sunshine island living, what could be more perfect?

Of course, life is not a bunch of roses, even on the most idyllic of Dalmatian islands. Complaining is an Olympic sport in Croatian cafes, and I was fascinated to see how locals would spend their whole (extended) coffee break complaining about things, then doing nothing about it. It was as though the art of complaining was part of the coffee ritual, and the ensuing discussion sorted out the problem. 

One day, I decided to write about one such problem which had been dominating more cafe attention than usual. If I discussed it on my portal, that could lead to an online discussion, which might even lead to some kind of change. A healthy way to discuss problems and move them forward. And anyway, all I was doing was voicing the views of all the locals. 

I was shocked by the response. No less than 7 people unfriended me on Facebook, with two looking the other way when I walked down the street (and they continue to do so 10 years later), and a torrent of abuse from people telling me to F*CK off back to England if I didn't like it here. 

From the very same people who were complaining about the same thing I was writing about the day before. 

It was an important lesson - a foreigner really is not allowed to have an opinion in Croatia. Even if that opinion is the same as the local one when it might be aired in English where tourists might hear something negative about Croatia. 

I remember back then just how sensitive I was to online criticism. After all, I was not writing about my own country, and local knowledge would always trump mine. I remember how a negative comment on an article about the local kindergarten ruined my afternoon and had me torturing myself to be more careful with my words. 

I laugh at that memory, ten years on writing about life in Croatia. For then I started a news portal, Total Croatia News. 

Not only did it take me off the island, but also out of its happy tourist bubble. And into the warm embrace of the Croatian keyboard warrior. 

When I started TCN just over 5 years ago, in July 2015, I really had no idea what I was doing. I had only just heard the word 'uhljeb' for the first time, and I really hadn't graduated much further than my idyllic tourism bubble. I certainly had no concept of the polarising politics of Croatia, the obsession with the past, the timewarp world of some of the diaspora, the cult of Partizani v Ustase, or the online abuse and occasional death threats (or, as one so eloquently put it - death treats) that came my way by message and phone. 

It was a baptism of fire. 

If I was sensitive about a negative comment about an article about a kindergarten, then clearly running a news portal about Croatia was not for me. It is certainly not for anyone who is sensitive in any shape or form. The Croatian keyboard warriors are brutal at every turn. It took me a while to get used to them, but now I look on them with a kind of perverse affection. And I know for sure that if they don't come out in force when I write an opinionated piece, then I am losing my touch. 

I learned early on that there is little point in engaging in discussions online. A discussion might start out with the best of intentions but it does not take long to descend to Ustase v Partizani, and the most important question of all for all commentators - Di si bio devedeset prve? (Where were you in 1991, ie when the Homeland War started?)

It was like going for a swim in a shark tank, where there was little hope of survival, and where a throwaway comment (nobody cared about them on the Hvar tourism bubble site) could start an online war, as well as the most spectacular conspiracy theories. I forget which secret service I am currently working for - MI6, CIA, FSB, Mossad or the chaps from Greater Serbia - but when we finally moved from Hvar to Varazdin, I publicly came clean with my spying mission. Having spent a decade monitoring the olive harvests of Vrisnik and Pitve, I had been reassigned to count the number of Varazdin pumpkins. 

I was genuinely bemused at how much emotion and rage one can arouse from an article on a portal like TCN, as well as the passionate opposition to things that my writing evoked. Could it be that I was touching on sensitive things that might actually benefit from being discussed out in the open?

With the negative comment on my kindergarten article a distant memory, I decided to write about the realities of Croatia, the good, the bad and the ugly. There were certain things, such as Vukovar and Oluja, that I thought best to leave alone, as they were raw and I did not know enough about them, but I made gentle inroads into a new area for TCN. 

Not only did I have to be more careful with words, but now that more people were reading, the national (and then international) media started taking notice. A sign of just how the media has changed with the Internet was evident in December 2015. I was the only witness to a curious event on the main square in Jelsa - the removal of the Christmas star - but one hour later, it was the number one story in Croatia (and the subject of discussion on the island for months). One article picked up initially by Index.hr and then the rest of the national media.

(Screenshot from Croatia.hr)

As time passed, it was interesting to note that not only was the Croatian media using TCN as a source for some stories, but some stories would bring about small elements of positive change. When I politely pointed out, for example, that I had not been able to locate the 18-hole golf course the Croatian national tourist board was promoting in central Zagreb, the golf course disappeared from the official website the same day, Over the next few days, golf courses, real and imaginary, appeared on the site, and it was hard to keep up, leading to Tourism Quiz of the Summer: How Many Golf Courses Will Croatia Have Next Week? 

Sometimes the changes came really quickly. When I pointed out in May that it was a little odd that the only means of contacting the Ministry of Tourism on their home page was by letter, phone of fax, the fax machine was abolished from the ministry within the hour of Index publishing the story. At the same time, more than 3 months into the pandemic, with zero information on the ministry website about corona, and a rather unhelpful and non-user friendly page on the national tourist board, both sprung into life around May 11th, with shiny new pages and the first useful information (read more in this article on Index).

Obviously, when one points out some of the shortfalls of the powers that be in Croatia, the likelihood of any official recognition of one's work is fairly unlikely, but there were others who seemed to appreciate TCN and its work, as far away as Malaysia. The last thing I expected to be doing last year was to be flying with my wife to Kuala Lumpur to pick up a media award at the inaugural Medical Travel Media Awards, but there we were. An amazing trip, and a sign of TCN's growing international reach. It was a far cry from those early days with a beer and a laptop and Jelsa winters.

And there is no recognition quite like the recognition of one's writing colleagues.

The 2014 Marco Polo FIJET Grand Prix Award at the National Society of Journalists for best international promotion of Croatia was the first thing I had won since coming third in the Under 9 chess challenge in Surrey back in 1978. A huge and unexpected honour.

In addition to the expected torrent of abuse from the army of keyboard warriors and a growing number of trolls, I was surprised by an ever more frequent type of correspondent - the second and third generation diaspora, who had been raised in his/her own Croatian bubble abroad - and one which had little to do with the realities of life in Croatia today. 

"Dear Mr Bradbury, I have been following TCN for some time and wanted to thank you and your colleagues for giving me a different perspective on my homeland. I am a second-generation Californian, and everything I read on TCN - written by people who actually live in Croatia - is very different from what I was taught in my diaspora community. Thank you, and I look forward to learning more about the realities of life in the modern Croatia. You have certainly changed my perception of my homeland."

This kind of email came through more and more, and I realised that there was a niche to fill, a disconnection between the younger diaspora and their home country. I started writing more about the realities of life in Croatia from my own personal experience to help people understand how things really are today. As many people who opposed this perceived negativity also appreciated it. As with everything else in Croatian society, opinion is split down the middle. 

Croatia has a default negative mindset, I concluded, and the saying that a Croatian can forgive you anything but success is certainly true. These were two themes that I touched on in my interview with Croatian interviewing legend Romano Bolkovic in the interview above. 

But what happens if you swap the negativity for positivity?

One thing I have noticed about writing in Croatia is that if you start with a positive theme, you are quickly worn down with skepticism and negativity. It seems almost at times that people here don't want to hear about success and look forward to happier times, as they are entrenched in a groundhog day of disappointment and broken promises. But I also learned that there are enough bubbles of positivity all over the country that are moving things forward. Surround yourself with the positive people, immerse yourself in the fabulous lifestyle, and Croatia really is the best place on the planet. 

****

"Don't forget you have a wife and children," was the chilling message on my cellphone before the line went dead. Yes, we are a democracy, but you write about certain things at your peril. It is a fine line that is hard for a foreigner to know when he is transgressing. At least in Croatia one receives a polite warning, unlike other places in the Balkans. 

For those of you who sometimes ask why we don't write about certain topics in Croatia, there is your answer.

****

After almost a decade of writing about Croatia, I felt more confident approaching the foreign taboo topics, such as Vukovar and Oluja. The longer I was here, the more I realised that actually nobody was writing about them in English, and so I decided to visit them both. And both were very different to my preconceptions - and therefore, possibly, to other people too. 

Vukovar Remembrance Day Through the Eyes of a Foreign Resident

Operation Storm: Foreign Reflections on a Visit to Oluja 2020 in Knin

The good, the bad and the ugly. Croatia is an incredible country, with SO much to write about, that I feel it is an absolute privilege to be here and to be able to communicate its magic to a growing number of interested readers. Some 17 years after arriving, for example, here are 30 incredible new experiences I got to write about in 2019 alone. 

Ten years on, I no longer worry about a critical comment on an article about a kindergarten. Indeed, I rarely read comments at all (sorry, trolls). But I do enjoy exploring and discovering this unique paradise, celebrating the excellence, constructively criticising the shortfalls, and trying to highlight its magic to forward-thinking people with an interest to help ensure a brighter future for Croatia. 

To all those who have followed my writing over the last ten years (especially those who are still reading), a heartfelt thank you. May the next ten years be equally exciting - I have a feeling they will be. 

Cheers! 

October 28, 2020 - The first Vacation-Worthy Week campaign by the Ministry of Tourism and Sport and the Croatian National Tourist Board, which took place from October 16 to 25, has come to an end. 

HRTurizam reports that during the promotional week, citizens could take advantage of a total of 424 offers and services from all parts of Croatia at 50 percent cheaper prices. 

Although, due to the specific situation in which the action was carried out, per the coronavirus epidemic, it is difficult to assess its success. The current epidemiological situation is certainly not conducive to tourism, so it isn't easy to have real data on any action, including this one. However, the CNTB points out that they are satisfied with the results of the action.

Currently, there is no analysis or assessment of how much the action generated in total visits and tourist spending. Still, the CNTB points out data from individual tourist entities and data from the action's website.

Among numerous tourist entities, national parks and nature parks took part in the action, which was in the special focus of visitors. Thus, Plitvice Lakes National Park, which offered tickets to all visitors at an affordable price of 50 kuna, was visited by almost 30,000 guests in ten days.

Krka National Park, which was visited by 2,700 tourists in the promotional week, also recorded good results, while Northern Velebit National Park sold more than 500 tickets in the same period. At Biokovo Nature Park, they are delighted with the results achieved, as more than 3,000 tickets were sold as part of the campaign, and most of the guests visited the newest Skywalk tourist attraction. Excellent results were also achieved by the freshwater aquarium Karlovac - Aquatika, which recorded 1,500 visitors, or three times more than the usual number of visitors at this time of year.

The CNTB points out that the campaign's website attracted more than 150,000 unique visitors, who spent an average of three minutes studying the offers. They mostly reviewed offers from  ​​the city of Zagreb and Split-Dalmatia, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, and Istria counties.

"I thank everyone who joined the Vacation-Worthy Week campaign, tourist entities with a large number of offers, but also all tourists who confirmed their reservations and participated in the research of cultural, natural, gastronomic, and other riches of Croatia. I am pleased with the tremendous response of visitors to nature parks and national parks, which shows that we all want to stay in the fresh air, be physically active, but also that such offers are valuable," said Minister of Tourism and Sport Nikolina Brnjac.

"We are satisfied with the excellent response of tourist entities and citizens who supported the first campaign. I want to thank the providers of tourism services who made their offers and services part of our project, and I would also like to thank all the citizens who took the opportunity to get to know Croatia better through this action. We are aware of the challenging moment in which the project was launched. Still, numerous positive reactions testify to its success," said the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Kristjan Stanicic.

The CNTB adds that the action will be carried out twice a year in the coming years, in spring and autumn, to strengthen domestic tourist traffic in the pre- and post-season.

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October the 28th, 2020 - The ongoing coronavirus crisis might be wreaking havoc with the economy and seeing people lose their jobs, but Milan Bandic is committed to employing more and more people within Zagreb's city administration, regardless of the less than favourable economic situation plaguing the country.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic plans to employ a total of 150 people in the city's administrative bodies by the end of this year.

Although 97 employees were planned to be hired by the city administration earlier this year, on January the 30th, that number was adjusted on June the 18th, following the lockdown, to include a further 15 new employees, and now, at the end of the year, the mayor has found that another 38 people need to be employed within the Croatian capital's administration.

When compared to the original plan from back in early 2020, this is an increase of more than 50 percent. Jutarnji list wanted to find out why there was such a big gap between the original plan, whether someone is responsible for this sort of poor planning, and how much the work has increased. They asked the City of Zagreb for an answer.

The figure on the second correction of the employment plan in the city bodies was published on Monday in the Official Gazette of the City of Zagreb. It follows that on October the 16th, Mayor Milan Bandic established that it was necessary for the City Office for Strategic Planning and Development of the city to employ four more people.

The city's Office of Economy, Energy and Environmental Protection, which initially planned to employ four people back at the beginning of the year, has increased that number by four more so it should employ a total of eight people by the end of the year.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 27th of October, 2020, the Republic of Croatia is working hard to modernise its transport sector, and in order to find out what is being built and what is planned to be built in the new mandate of this Government, HAK sought answers from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure. Let's have a look at the massive Croatian megaprojects that are still to come.

''As far as the transport sector is concerned, a number of infrastructure projects worth more than 20 billion kuna are currently being implemented. The investment cycle is expected to continue in the next period, so that during the operational period 2021-2027, the plan is to invest an additional 45 billion kuna in the construction and renovation of transport infrastructure throughout the Republic of Croatia,'' explained Ivana Skaric, ministry spokeswoman.

Railway modernisation

She noted that the greatest emphasis will be on the modernisation of Croatia's aged railway infrastructure, with special emphasis placed on the completion of the Lowland Railway and the entire route of Corridor X. It is estimated that investment in this transport sector will exceed the hefty price tag of 22 billion kuna.

Thus, over the next three years, the Croatian megaprojects expected to be completed are as follows: the modernisation and electrification of the Zapresic - Zabok railway, the reconstruction and construction of the Dugo Selo - Krizevci railway, the reconstruction (and subsequent construction) of the second track on the Krizevci - Koprivnica - state border section, the upgrading and electrification of the Vinkovci - Vukovar railway, and the reconstruction and construction of the second track of the Hrvatski Leskovac - Karlovac section (the total value of these Croatian megaprojects stands at eight billion kuna).

''In addition to the above, the signing and implementation of the project of the reconstruction and upgrade of 95 railway-road crossings is expected soon. The start of the works on this is planned for the end of 2020, and the planned amount for the aforementioned project stands at more than 150 million kuna,'' the competent ministry revealed.

Additionally, the implementation of projects along Corridor X is planned, this namely regards the upgrade and reconstruction of the Dugo Selo - Novska railway section which carries an estimated value of more than four billion kuna. This foresees the reconstruction of 72 kilometres of railway and the reconstruction of four railway stations, as well as the reconstruction of the Okucani - Vinkovci railway section which also has an estimated worth of more than four billion. With that, there are plans to renovate 131 kilometres of railway, as well as reconstruct 12 railway stations and 13 accompanying stops.

The lowland railway

In addition, the completion of the lowland railway is planned for the coming period, which includes the following: the construction of the second track, the modernisation and reconstruction of the Skrljevo - Rijeka - Jurdani railway section. This project is estimated at two billion kuna and includes the modernisation of almost 30 kilometres of railway line. Furthermore, the modernisation of the Ostarije - Skrljevo railway section is also envisaged. The project is estimated at 7.5 billion kuna, and includes the reconstruction of 114 kilometres of railway.

The modernisation of the railway M202 Zagreb GK - Rijeka, section Karlovac - Ostarije is also planned. That particular project is estimated to stand at three billion kuna. Additionally, a project for the preparation of study documentation for the so-called Lika railway is in the works.

''The railway connections of the airports and ferry ports of Zadar and Split are being prepared, with the railway connection of the City of Zadar with the port of Gazenica and Zadar Airport, as well as the Bibinje - Sukosan bypass, and the project of connecting the Split subway railway station in the Ferry Port Split (East Coast), with Split Airport and the construction of an intermodal junction of the new main station Split (Kopilica),'' they claim from the appropriate ministry.

Peljesac Bridge

In the term of office, the completion of the largest and most important project in the Republic of Croatia is expected - the construction of the long awaited Peljesac Bridge. ''The deadline for the completion of the bridge is the beginning of 2022, while the completion of the entire project (with all of its access roads) is expected by 2023,'' the ministry noted.

15 billion kuna for road infrastructure

Investments in road infrastructure will continue in the next period, and Croatian megaprojects worth more than 15 billion kuna are already being prepared, such as the completion of Corridor Vc (the Beli Manastir - Hungarian border section), which stretches from Budapest all the way down to Ploce in a total length of 702 kilometres. The construction of the motorway on the Vc corridor in Croatia will be completed by the end of 2023.

In the next period, the ministry noted, investments will be directed to a number of projects in the City of Split, such as the Split Bypass, which is in Omis, carrying with it a total value of more than two billion kuna, and the Kozjak tunnel with a total value of almost one billion kuna.

The Ucka tunnel

Investments continue on the construction of the Istrian Y regarding the Ucka tunnel. The ministry states that this is an investment worth almost 1.5 billion kuna, which, in addition to the continued construction within the Ucka tunnel, refers to new viaducts, underpasses, overpasses and rest areas.

''In addition to the above, important road sections will be built in the term of office, such as the Skurinje junction to the Port of Rijeka, the Srijem Transversal, the construction of the Podravina Y, the road in the direction of the Dubrovnik - Montenegrin border, the Novi Vinodolski bypass will be built as part of the construction project, and motorways on the Krizisce - Zuta Lokva section,'' stated Skaric.

Investment in ports: three billion kuna

In the maritime sector, more specifically in the construction of port infrastructure along the Croatian Adriatic, the plan is to invest an additional three billion kuna.

''Investing in port infrastructure and increasing the capacity of the Port of Rijeka, along with the construction of the lowland railway, is a particularly significant strategic investment in the context of the continuation of traffic and the economic development of the Republic of Croatia. In that sense, the concessionaire at the new terminal on the Rijeka coastline expected, and thus the continuation of investments in the infrastructure of the terminal itself, as well as the implementation of all EU projects implemented in the Port of Rijeka, which are all worth more than three billion kuna.

Investments in other ports of special international economic interest in the amount of more than two billion kuna are also planned. Among them, the most significant will be projects in the area of ​​the ferry port Gruž, ie the project Batahovina II, investments in the expansion (including relocation) of the port infrastructure of the port of Split to the location Stinice, upgrade of the pier Vrulje within the maritime passenger terminal in the port of Sibenik.

- Projects for rehabilitation and reconstruction of port infrastructure of county and local importance from Istria to Dubrovnik with money from EU funds will continue in this mandate. An investment of around HRK 250 million is planned in such projects - the ministry states.

Rebuilding the fleet of ships

Further investment in the Department of Navigation Safety is also expected. In addition to the already planned laws and bylaws and the modernisation of the search and rescue system at sea, the renewal of the fleet of ships (10) is planned and it is estimated that investment in this sector will amount to more than 300 million kuna in total.

In the field of inland navigation, a number of EU projects are planned, such as the construction of a bulk cargo transshipment terminal in Osijek, the project of developing a waterway marking system in the Republic of Croatia, arranging a waterway on the Danube near Sotin, the construction of an international winter resort in Opatovac on the Danube, the new vertical shore in the port of Vukovar, and the study and project documentation for the dangerous goods terminal in the port of Slavonski Brod.

More than a billion kuna for the aviation sector

''After the opening of new passenger terminals in Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik, investment in the modernisation and expansion of airports across the Republic of Croatia continues. In the next period, a total investment in the aviation sector is expected to stand at more than one billion kuna, with the most prominent investment of all being the renovation and expansion of the runway and car park of Zadar Airport, the modernisation of Osijek Airport and Rijeka Airport (Krk) and the planned modernisation and expansion of the airport in Mali Losinj,'' stated the ministry, adding that the process of finding a strategic partner for Croatia Airlines will continue, as will the stabilisation of the company's operations, also taking into account the situation within that company caused by the coronavirus crisis.

Broadband internet in every corner of Croatia

A special emphasis in the next period, the ministry added, will be placed on broadband internet, ie its availability in all parts of Croatia.

''The project of building a national aggregation of broadband infrastructure of the next generation and connecting target users within public administration bodies with modern electronic communications infrastructure, also of the next generation, is estimated at 780 million kuna,'' Ivana Skaric revealed.

New buses, trams, automatic traffic control

When it comes to public transport, after the successful implementation of projects for the procurement of new buses for as many as nine Croatian cities, a new round of investments is planned in the procurement of yet more new buses, trams, the construction of tram infrastructure and automatic traffic management systems.

Contactless toll collection

''Contactless toll collection on motorways will be introduced, which will apply to the entire system across Croatia, which includes HAC, ARZ and all concessionaires, ie Bina Istra and AZM. The plan is to introduce a new system by the summer season during 2022,'' the ministry said.

Extremely important investments for economic and social growth

Spokeswoman Ivana Skaric added that all the aforementioned Croatian megaprojects were listed as the most important and that some smaller projects were not included, especially in the road and port sector.

''Most of these projects will be co-financed through EU funds, specifically, the new Operational Programme for the period 2021-2027, CEF Connecting Europe Facility and through the presented European Recovery Plan, ie the Mechanism for Recovery and Resilience. At the moment, the ministry has proposed a number of projects and funding programmes to enable the launch and continuation of all infrastructure projects, especially those that will impact the green and digital transition, making the economy more resilient and prepared for future challenges.

Finally, all these investments will enable the further development of transport infrastructure across the Republic of Croatia, which is extremely important for economic and social growth, as well as for international connectivity. Developed transport infrastructure is an instrument of regional development that initiates the exchange of goods and better accessibility to all economic, health, tourist and other facilities,'' concluded IvanaSŠkaric, spokeswoman for the ministry.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes on the 27th of October, 2020, the Croatian private airline Trade Air has opened sales for its domestic routes on which it will operate during its winter flight schedule which will last from November 2020 to April 2021.

This is an extension of the contract it has with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, and as reported from the Croatian Aviation portal, Trade Air connects Osijek, Zagreb, Pula, Rijeka, Split and Dubrovnik.

They also offer charter and cargo flights, with an entire fleet that currently boasts a 180-seat Airbus 320 and a 109-seat Fokker 100.

The director of Trade Air, Marko Cvijin, who is also a pilot, explained that in cooperation with neighbouring Slovenian travel agencies, they also conducted charter flights from the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana to various Greek destinations until a few days ago, when the Slovenian Government suspended all international activities of the sort.

Through numerous European partners and brokers, Croatia's Trade Air has also operated a large number of flights for the transport of sports clubs and national teams. The company specialises in so-called wet lease where their customers are other airlines.

"According to the statistics of flights realised during the summer season, there were no cancellations due to the pandemic or poor sales, and the average occupancy on our flights along the coast did not fall below 50 percent. We also recorded a decent number of passengers during the off-season. These aren't only tourists, but also people business trips and those going to visit their families,'' said Cvijin, who believes that in 2021, Croatia will have a better pre-season, summer season and post-season.

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